earTHMama:

[img]This is one of the factories where almajiris are made. The north is tainting our image big time. See the *Northern man begging with his 5 wives and uncountable children. Before you know it, these kids will grow in lagos and become a nuisance to the society.

Re the highlight
How rude.  I am very disappointed in you.  [size=18pt]Breathe[/size]  I expected that remark from YT. . . . .hmm, hey you never know

earTHMama:

Those aboki at the far end of the picture look like militants to you?

we can always identify you guyz (militants),
you guyz are so damn ugly  

some people are obsessed with defending Nigeria's image.

bawomolo:

some people are obsessed with defending Nigeria's image.

Even when the truth is staring them right in the face! Some ppl need to calm down!

Muza your pictures exposing the absolute squalor of Nigerian cities are worth more than the proverbial thousand words, and require no further clarification to serve their purpose in showing up the falsehood of all these tired rebuttals offered up by die-hard flag-waving patriots who still continue to insist that the disparity between the rich and poor in Lagos is comparable to what can be found in cities of western countries.

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Regardless of the deficit in social amenities, Lagos will continue to be expensive until immigration issues are addressed.

Market forces are responsible for the current situation, coupled with easy access to bank loans.

A property that's not worth more than N10 million is being sold for N20 million and there are buyers falling on themselves to acquire it because the banks will finance it.

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Tpia

Do you live in Lagos? If you dont, then I forgive you for making that statement.

How could you suggest visa lottery scheme for a city that's congested?

I'll pretend you didn't say that.

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Well for America the journalists also critique their govt & politrickians such as this one.
Anyway that kind of journalism and law & order is not _nuts in our character.
Abeg, let's move on, he go soon better for naija, our prophets don talk like here

i believe the pathetic thing is not this article itself, but that we as Nigerians have resigned ourself to the wims of what some people call "fate". We are numbed and go about like stoned zoombies, immune to what is, and defiant to what could be,

These fools talk as if Nigeria starts and ends in Lagos, its like saying America starts and ends in the ghetos of Bronx and flood infested black neighbourhoods down south.

Go to Abuja and see, granted, Lagos is in shambles, but it is completely wrong to use that as a yardstick to measure the country Nigeria. Visit Calabar and see, drive through Port Harcourt and see, go to a few northern cities and see, to me, it is a fool who uses what he sees in Lagos as a yardstick to conclude about situations in the entire country Nigeria.

There is more about Lagos than all that. Lagos represent a facinating destination not only to job seekers but also thousand of whites as well. About 30% of the island is populated by this journalist brother. So if Lagos is that bad what are doing here? Truth is Lagos is no different from other major city in the world - the rich and the poor abound. Me think the writer's anger for Lagos is similar to that of John McCain for Obama - this is our exclusive preserve mentality. Wake man the world is changing, its time for the black continent to take back what rightly belongs to it. Its our time.

oxford:

There is more about Lagos than all that. Lagos represent a facinating destination not only to job seekers but also thousand of whites as well. About 30% of the island is populated by this journalist brother. So if Lagos is that bad what are doing here? Truth is Lagos is no different from other major city in the world - the rich and the poor abound. Me think the writer's anger for Lagos is similar to that of John McCain for Obama - this is our exclusive preserve mentality. Wake man the world is changing, its time for the black continent to take back what rightly belongs to it. Its our time.

How did you manage to deduce 'anger' and racism from that article when none existed?
Your first post on Nairaland and you just had to sound like an idiot, didn't you?

game_rod:

These fools talk as if Nigeria starts and ends in Lagos, its like saying America starts and ends in the ghetos of Bronx and flood infested black neighbourhoods down south.

Go to Abuja and see, granted, Lagos is in shambles, but it is completely wrong to use that as a yardstick to measure the country Nigeria. Visit Calabar and see, drive through Port Harcourt and see, go to a few northern cities and see, to me, it is a fool who uses what he sees in Lagos as a yardstick to conclude about situations in the entire country Nigeria.

Yet again you miss the point of the entire article. The only thing you've succeeded in doing so far is showing us all that you aren't very bright indeed

The writer was right.

tpia:

the article being discussed wasn't written by a Nigerian.

not to mention lagos isnt the only place in Africa where beggars are found.

Tpia please don't consider law as a possible future career, for the gaps in your logic are wide enough to drive a truck through.  The CONTENT and TRUTHFULNESS of the article are what matter, and NOT the nationality of the article's author, and anyone who has actually seen the two parallel extremes of wealth and poverty in Lagos would be hard pressed to identify any fallacies in the observations of that city made in this New York Times feature write-up.

Your reference to the existence of beggars in Bangladesh or wherever is an utter irrelevance that in no way detracts from the article's core theme, which is that Lagos SWARMS with the destitute, desperate and deranged causalties of chronic poverty, who subsist and starve in the shadow of opulent mansions built by filthy rich embezzlers, drug runners and conmen.

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@ earTHMama
Resist Almajiri factories in the south.


yes.that was were the likes of[b] MC Usman [/b] and Muza were bred.

I love this city.

If all you have said it true that means, there is a lot to earn living in lagos!

Men, think and grow rich! Give the town what they want, name your price, there is someone waiting to pick the bills woth God bless you attached.

tpia:


thats the lagos YOU want to see. It doesnt mean your highly biased and prejudiced viewpoint [/b]has to be swallowed by others.
[b]
Like I said, not everyone lives in the Lagos slums.

And please, not every rich person in lagos got their money through fraudulent means. Some are rich through their own honest labor.

Hyperbole is colorful, but mainly has an alarmist function.

and yes, beggars abound in other parts of Nigeria and other parts of the world, not only in lagos. Rather than spit on them, what you should be asking is what efforts are being made to rehabilitate them. There are homeless people abroad too. It all depends on which neighborhood you choose to stay.

What is 'highly biased' about there being 15million people in a City designed for 100,000? What is hyperbole about stating the current excessive rents charged in V/I and Lekki?

Did the article state that everyone in Lagos lived in Slums?  

I don't get your defensiveness here. Things in Lagos are TERRIBLE, almost beyond comprehension in some cases, is there anything in that article that is not pointing to this reality?

Your last statement is very disappointing - there are homeless people abroad too? It depends on the neighbourhood you stay?? Is it as a result of neighbourhood choices that millions cannot afford to live in more than shanties in Lagos?

Why do we feel a need to defend such an egregious state of affairs in our commercial heartland?

Yes there are many sides to Lagos, but of what use is that? Is the fact that 'some people made their money legitimately' and 'not everyone lives in slums' supposed to make us feel better about the glaring filth and corruption in the Land?  

Things are bad, very very bad. It is sad that many here seek to deflect attention off that and say - not everyone is poor, some better places exist in Nigeria. That doesn't change the fact that the situation is so bad. We have become so inured to this that we almost cannot see why/how things should change.

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They won't mind their business. What does he know about Lagos that he thinks he can write anything. Infact I think we are giving this sonofabitch undeserved attention. I wonder for which resturant he don jam our governor pikin, im sabi am? Mumu journalist.

My friend in Lagos who is very rich affords to power to his own generator had the privilege of enjoying PHCN power supply for 20minutes within a space of two weeks.

wow!

The New York Times article is simply a description of the extremely close proximity with which Lagos' fabulously wealthy residents live alongside teeming hordes humanity trapped in hand-to-mouth hellish existences on the streets RIGHT IN FRONT of those heavily fortified castles constructed by the rich.

Sure, if you drive from Beverly Hills to Skid Row on opposite sides of "the track" in Los Angeles, you can admire the six-figure homes of America's moneyed class in a neighborhood located less than a half-hour's drive from the run-down streets of metropolitan areas inhabited by winos and drifters, and of course this would be true in any Western city you care to mention, BUT, what puts the Nigerian wealth-gap in a class of its own is[i] the sheer number of entire families[/i] that simply do not exist, in terms of their eligibility for any form of state assistance, and who therefore eke out  piteous livings amid extreme squalor, only to be remembered when government bulldozers rumble in to flatten the shanties of the poor to make way for more castles to feed the giant egos of fat money-men and women.

While Nigerian's debate over whether to feel offended by this New York Times article, Lagos residents both rich and poor face a statistically higher chance of paying host to marauding gangs of "The Forgotten", than do the inhabitants of just about anywhere else on earth with the possible exception of a few hell-holes like  Bhagdad, Mogadishu and the favelas of Brazil, and this rising tide of violent crime in and around Lagos is a DIRECT consequence of the poor getting hungrier and more desperate with each new car or mansion they see.

tpia:

Nigerians need to start thinking less like followers and more like leaders. With all our education, we should at least be closer to that kind of mentality by now.  Persecution complex isnt a sign of a good leader. By now the focus should be how to improve what we see on ground, instead of constantly cursing everywhere.

Thinking like leaders eh? I guess thinking like leaders means saying 'there are poor people in other countries abroad' and saying[i] 'it depends on what neighbourhood you stay'[/i]. Pray tell, how is that leadership thought and improving what is on ground? Excusing it on the flimsy excuse that poor people exist elsewhere?

tpia:

you're totally off point.  Jakumo's post which I responded to, attacked the article for not presenting lagos the way he and many of you, want it presented.

Jakumo was NOT against the article - he said the contents are a CORRECT depiction. Where are you getting this idea that 'many of us' want Lagos depicted in a certain manner? Are you not the person claiming that not all the rich people are from corrupt sources? 

tpia:

its a known fact that you and many others here tend to tie every single piece of information about Nigeria, to your call for seccession by the various Nigerian tribes, so its really no surprise when you post all these negative stereotypes and focus on the negative in any discussion on Nigeria.

Who has made any comment about secession here  It seems you are bringing some pre-conceived notions about what the posters here are thinking and what their motives are - without anything to back it up! I have to say you are well wide of the mark in that regard.

The crux of the matter is this: why are so many on this thread content to be defensive and say - 'that is not all there is to Nigeria' or 'poor exist elsewhere too'? Does that negate the suffering of the millions in Lagos?

Getting people to feel some sense, ANY sense of outrage at what is going on is required. If you don't HATE your situation, you won't change it.

@tpia
Stop being obsessed with winning an argument at the expense of sound reasoning. Statements like 'not everyone lives in slums in Lagos' and 'not to mention lagos isnt the only place in Africa where beggars are found' are not worthy of you.
That said, you do have some sound points. Doesn't pay to get into an argument with Jakumo though.

This is simply incredible !!
Is there any place where a Nigerian journalist has written ANYTHING about any other country (say UK or USA) and the citizens take any notice of it , not to talk  of discussing it ? But  in Nigeria / Nairaland a no-name American journalist puts together a rather pointless article about how people live in Nigeria and we accept it as the voice of God and weep  and wail in distress as if the end of the world has come.  I didn't know Nigeria has as many spineless persons as i have met on Nairaland . Well,you can all get yourselves together throw a big pity party and wail and  bemoan your sad lot  some more for being born a Nigerian, you can even turn it into song and dance and cut a music CD from it and sell it to all your friends . I warn you though, I am not buying .

It is winter in UK and several other places, does the UK citizen wait for the government to provide a coat ? No you buy beg or borrow one else you will freeze to death. Do they wait for the government to heat their rooms at night ? The consequences of not doing this is that you will be dead by morning. That is the way things are all over the world. in the countries that we admire so much.Yet a lot of Nigerians blame government for their failures and woes. Even those who have never paid a kobo in tax all their life blame government for bad road and every other problem under the sun including the size of the meat that came with their ofada rice. I am not poor , I can proudly say this and it is because I took hold of the reins of my life by myself. Anyone who wants to make progress in their life must also do this instead of moaning and weeping . God has given everyone of us a choice between being rich and remaining poor and it is left for you to make that choice. Anyone who wants to make it a life mission to go about taking pictures of beggars and gutters, you have the permission of the rest of us. Thanks all, I have said my piece and I am out of here.

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